Fully closed cartons capable of containing absorbent articles are presently used. Typically, the absorbent articles are packaged in primary packaging, e.g. polybags, which are then placed into secondary packaging, e.g. cardboard boxes. The manufacturer may provide printed indicia on either or both of the primary packaging and secondary packaging, depending on which is intended to be the product ultimately purchased by a consumer. The cardboard box may be shipped eventually to a retailer and placed on shelf, then a consumer purchases the box, takes it home, and then opens the box and disposes of it. Alternately, the consumer may purchase the box via e-commerce, e.g. online through the internet, and the box is shipped directly to the consumer. In yet another alternative, the retailer may open the box and place polybagged absorbent articles on shelf for sale, and likely stack them to save space and/or to create a display. After the taking the product home, the consumer typically opens the box, if any, and then opens the polybag containing the absorbent articles, removes all or some of the absorbent articles and then places them in yet another container, e.g. a diaper bag or similar container attached or placed proximately to a changing table, from which they are retrieved at the point of use.
Many of these aforementioned cartons suffer from one or more disadvantages. For example, absorbent articles contained in plastic film bags, e.g. made of polyethylene, commonly known as “polybags”, may suffer deformation by the time they arrive at store or home given that many polybags may be stacked or otherwise arranged on top of each other during shipping or display, or other items being simultaneously shipped or displayed may be placed on top of otherwise situated such that the weight of the other items causes deformation of the absorbent articles. Once in store, polybags may be unstable on shelf in a similar manner, e.g. they are susceptible to falling over or being placed by a stockperson at an angle relative to a viewing consumer where the orientation of the polybag does not allow the consumer to readily see and understand the indicia on the polybag, e.g. a viewing consumer may see a group of polybags together in a store display where some of them are top-end up, while others are side-end up, and some are even upside down. Also, the polybags may be deformed by other polybags or other items on shelf. If the polybag is kept in the box while on display, then the consumer cannot see the actual product and must rely on indicia provided on the box, if any, to relay an image of the actual product to the consumer, which many consumers may find insufficient. Further, once the polybag is taken home by a consumer, the consumer may find it difficult to store unused absorbent articles in the polybag and/or to retrieve a single absorbent article from the polybag once it has been torn open. Further yet, with polybags that have tear strips located very near, if not at the end of a row of absorbent articles packed within the polybag, the indicia is printed on the polybag such that the end of the row is at the top of the polybag when the indicia is viewed upright, thus causing a consumer to either suffer the inconvenience of removing absorbent articles from the side of the polybag in order to view the indicia in an upright position, or suffer the inconvenience of viewing the indicia oriented at a right angle to the upright position in order to conveniently remove absorbent articles from what becomes the top of the polybag as the polybag stands upright in this orientation. In effect, many of these containers lack sufficient integrity once they have been opened, do not provide visibility of the product, are not designed to have the indicia printed on the container continue to be oriented for easy viewing and understanding after the container is opened, or combinations thereof.